Month: December 2018

by Neela Banerjee, Georgina Gustin, John H. Cushman Jr. | December 21, 2018 While big oil and gas companies provided the cash for anti-regulation campaigns, the farm lobby offered up a sympathetic face: the American farmer. When Republican Rep. Steve Scalise stepped to the dais in the U.S. House of Representatives in July and implored…

by AP | December 19, 2018 Brazilian Federal Police raided the home of Science and Technology Minister Gilberto Kassab Wednesday following accusations that he received millions in bribes from the JBS food company between 2010 and 2016. Prosecutors said they suspect that the minister may have received as much as $13.8 million in exchange for…

by Christy Brissette | December 19, 2018 Grass-fed beef sounds like a lovely idea. Customers envision happy cattle grazing on green pastures, producing meat that is better for our health and the environment. It turns out that none of this is a given. The jury is still out on whether grass fed beef is better…

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Dear Mike, On Friday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued an unfavorable decision in our lawsuit challenging the USDA’s withdrawal of the Farmer Fair Practices Rules, also known as the GIPSA Rules. The court has denied our petition for review and will not force the USDA to implement the rules…

by Leah Douglas | December 21, 2018 And bad news for the climate. Rosemary Partridge has lived in Sac County, Iowa, for 40 years. She has watched the state’s agricultural landscape change, with large-scale hog farms taking over nearly all the land surrounding her home. The stink of the neighboring farms is “unbearable,” making her…

by national rural and regional correspondent Dominique Schwartz | December 9, 2018 Scott Samwell lives on brussels sprouts. His Adelaide Hills family is one of Australia’s biggest growers of the vegetable and the only producer of the kale-brussels sprout hybrid, the kalette. Restaurant dishes such as twice-cooked brussels sprouts sautéed with bacon and sprinkled with…

by Kelly Bostian Tulsa World | December 22, 2018 The state’s suspension on poultry house registrations didn’t save them, and now Leon and Tammy Scott say they’re going to move. “Yes, I think we’ll sell,” Leon Scott said Friday morning as he noticed a “shavings truck” arriving at six houses built directly across the road…

by Karin Shedd | December 5, 2018 In fall 2019, Costco will open a chicken farming operation in eastern Nebraska. This venture will provide Costco with 100 million chickens, or 40 percent of its yearly chicken needs, allowing it to partially escape the American chicken monopoly run by the likes of Tyson, Pilgrim’s Pride and…

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by Jim Goodman organic dairy farmer from Wonewoc, Wis. | December 21, 2018 After 40 years of dairy farming, I sold my herd of cows this summer. The herd had been in my family since 1904; I know all 45 cows by name. I couldn’t find anyone who wanted to take over our farm —…

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by Lisa M. Keefe | December 21, 2018 The ultra-lean beef product made primarily by Beef Products Inc., which has been called out on labels on a voluntary basis since 2012 as “lean finely textured beef,” has been reclassified by USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service as simply “ground beef.” “We’re not producing LFTB anymore….